Disk mirroring for personal storage

• US 9,497,266 B2
• Filed: 02/22/2013
• Issued: 11/15/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 02/22/2013
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Onghena, Michael, Catalano, Pasquale A., DeCusatis, Casimer M., Krishnamurthy, Rajaram B., Rao, Anuradha
• Primary Examiner(s): Bates, Kevin
• Assistant Examiner(s): MCCRAY, CLARENCE D
• Application Number:
  US13/774,318
• Publication Number:
  US 20140244777A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,362 Days
• Field of Search: 709/212
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1095 Replication or mirroring of data, e.g. scheduling or transport for data synchronisation between network nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/1097 for distributed storage of data in networks, e.g. transport arrangements for network file system [NFS], storage area networks [SAN] or network attached storage [NAS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/40 for recovering from a failure of a protocol instance or entity, e.g. service redundancy protocols, protocol state redundancy or protocol service redirection management of faults, events, alarms or notifications in data switching networks H04L41/06

Abstract

Embodiments of the present invention provide a system for backing up personal data between two mated (i.e., paired) network attached storage (NAS) devices. The system includes a local storage device and a secondary storage device that communicate over a network (e.g., the Internet) via a network connection. Any data added or modified on the local storage device will be automatically mirrored (i.e., copied) to the secondary storage device, which may be located at a secure remote site, pursuant to a data mirroring technique.

Claims

1. A data mirroring system, comprising:

a first storage device configured to connect to a network, wherein the first storage device is assigned a network address;

a second storage device configured to connect to the network, wherein the second storage device is assigned a network address;

the first storage device being further configured to receive a uniform resource locator (URL) of an information source that is stored in a modified basic input-output system (BIOS) of the first storage device from the BIOS of the first storage device and write the IP address of the first storage device to the information source based on the URL;

the first storage device being further configured to retrieve the network address of the second storage device from the information source; and

the first storage device being further configured to send data changes made on the first storage device to the second storage device via the network based on the network address of the second storage device.

2. The data mirroring system of claim 1, wherein the first storage device is remotely located from the second storage device.

3. The data mirroring system of claim 1, wherein the network is the Internet, the network address is an Internet protocol (IP) address, and the information source is a web page.

4. The data mirroring system of claim 3, wherein a time of the first storage device and a time of the second storage device are synchronized using Network Time Protocol (NTP) via an Internet connection.

5. The data mirroring system of claim 4, wherein the first storage device is further configured to determine when the first network connection fails, determine a recovery point based on a time of the first network connection failure, and send data updates made on the first storage device to the second storage device based on when a network connection becomes available.

6. The data mirroring system of claim 1, wherein the second storage device is further configured to retrieve the network address of the first storage device and send data updates made on the second storage device to the first storage device via the network based on the network address of the first storage device.

7. An intelligent storage device, comprising:

a storage area configured to store data;

an interface module configured to receive a uniform resource locator (URL) of an information source that is stored in a modified basic input-output system (BIOS) of the first storage device from the BIOS of the first storage device and to connect to a network by writing an IP address of the first storage device to the information source based on the URL;

an intelligence module configured to receive a network address assigned to the intelligent storage device;

the intelligence module being further configured to retrieve a network address assigned to a secondary storage device from the information source; and

the intelligence module being further configured to send data changes made on the intelligent storage device to the secondary storage device over the network based on the network address of the secondary storage device.

8. The intelligent storage device of claim 7, wherein the intelligent storage device is remotely located from the secondary storage device.

9. The intelligent storage device of claim 7, wherein the network is the Internet, the network address is an Internet protocol (IP) address, and the information source is a web page.

10. The intelligent storage device of claim 9, wherein a time of the intelligent storage device and a time of the secondary storage device are synchronized using Network Time Protocol (NTP) via an Internet connection.

11. The intelligent storage device of claim 10, wherein the intelligence module is further configured to determine when the network is unavailable, determine a recovery point based on a time when the network is unavailable, and send data updates made on the intelligent storage device to the second storage device based on when a network connection becomes available.

12. The intelligent storage device of claim 7, wherein the secondary storage device is further configured to retrieve the network address of the intelligent storage device and send data updates made on the secondary storage device to the intelligent storage device via the network based on the network address of the intelligent storage device.

13. A method for data mirroring, comprising:

receiving receive a uniform resource locator (URL) of an information source that is stored in a modified basic input-output system (BIOS) of the first storage device from the BIOS of the first storage device;

connecting the first storage device to a network;

connecting a second storage device to the network;

assigning a network address to the first storage device;

assigning a network address to the second storage device;

writing the network address of the first storage device to an information resource;

writing the network address of the second storage device to an information resource;

receiving the network address of the second storage device at the first storage device; and

mirroring data changes made on the first storage device to the second storage device via the network based on the network address of the second storage device.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the first storage device is remotely located from the second storage device.

15. The method of claim 13, wherein the network is the Internet, the network address is an Internet protocol (IP) address, and the information resource is a web page.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein a time of the first storage device and a time of the second storage device are synchronized using Network Time Protocol (NTP) over the Internet.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the local storage device is further configured to determine when the first network connection fails;

the local storage device is further configured to determine a recovery point based on a time of the first network connection failure;

the local storage device synchronize data between the local storage device and the secondary storage device after the first network connection is made using the time of the first network connection failure.

18. The method of claim 13, further comprising:

receiving the IP address of the first storage device at the second storage device; and

mirroring data updates made on the second storage device to the first storage device via the network based on the network address of the first storage device.